


85. Commiseration

by alley_oops, jennandanica



Series: Citadel: Sam Worthington and Ryan Kwanten [85]
Category: Actor RPF, Australian Actor RPF, Citadel (Journalfen RPG), True Blood RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-03
Updated: 2008-11-03
Packaged: 2018-01-15 14:22:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1307983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alley_oops/pseuds/alley_oops, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandanica/pseuds/jennandanica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Christina is played by tjournal.</p>
    </blockquote>





	85. Commiseration

**Author's Note:**

> Christina is played by tjournal.

_**Christina Ricci and Ryan[](http://www.journalfen.net/users/kwanten/profile)**_[ **kwanten**](http://www.journalfen.net/users/kwanten/) commiserate.  
[Around June 4, 2011. Will be backdated.]

It's been a few days since Sam arrived back in London from his New York trip. All he really said about his date with Natalie was that it went well, and the two of them have lots more in common than he'd thought. Which is... good, really. Ryan knows that. So what if it makes him nervous at the same time. Sam and Natalie, lots in common? Like, in addition to the obvious chemistry between them?

The good news is, if Ryan feels like crap about this, then he knows Christina probably feels worse. Not that he wants her to feel bad, hell no. But he needs to talk to someone who understands, and it can't be Sam.

So, when Sam is off at work, Ryan digs out his cell and rings Christina. He's not getting himself a beer, he's not. But he does give into the urge to start pacing the flat.

The phone is ringing and Christina can hear it but goddamn if she can find it. She ends up on her hands and knees, replaying her morning and playing Marco Polo with her Android.

If only it was a REAL Android. Then she could say, "Goddamn it phone, where are you?! Come here!"

And right when she's thinking that, her fingers go under the couch cushion and she finds the heavy square of technology.

"Hellllo sorry don't hang up!" she yells, not looking at the display.

The greeting pulls a laugh from Ryan's lips. "Christina, hi," he says, actually pausing in his trek back and forth between the living room walls. "It's Ryan Kwanten."

"Oh hi." Christina sprawls on the couch, throwing her legs over the side. "You know, you can just say Ryan. We're totes past last names."

"Ryan, then," he says with a grin, dragging a hand through his hair. "How are you doing?"

"I'm...." She pauses, stretching her feet towards the ceiling. "I'm... fine." The word is hesitant. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Ryan shrugs, and gets back to his pacing. "I mean, my boyfriend had a date with your girlfriend the other night, and that made me nervous, and then he went out and let some stranger suck him off, which was worse, but other than that..." Ohhh shit. He totally hadn't intended to bring that last bit up. The anxious babbling is apparently kicking in ahead of schedule.

"What?!" Christina squawks before biting her lip. She doesn't know their rules or parameters but seriously - what the ever loving fuck. "He okay - you have to tell me if he's allowed to do that or if he was just a douche so I can decide how many times I'm backing my car over him."

"No, he's allowed, he's allowed," Ryan rushes to explain, not wanting to give Christina some horrible misimpression of Sam. "It's just..." he sighs. "It's just that, as long as he's been allowed, he's never actually done it before. It seemed like it was out of the blue. Except that things never really are, you know? There's always a reason."

He babbles on, his steps quicker as he reaches a wall, about-faces and stalks off to meet the opposite wall. "So what was different about that time, what was the motivating factor, right? It could only have been Natalie," and okay, maybe talking to Christina about this is actually a _terrible_ idea, but he's already begun, so... "They had their date, and it went really well, and I don't know if they indulged in any kind of PDA or getting-to-know-you kisses or what, but presumably there was conversation loaded with subtext in addition to outright flirting and subtly playing with all that gorgeous chemistry sparking between them. The one thing I know for sure is that they didn't have sex with each other. Which meant Sam left their date with all that sexual energy simmering just below the surface. Simmering, and looking for an outlet. Which he then found back at the Club."

No really, Christina wants to start screaming - mostly to wake herself up because this has to be a dream right? Her worse nightmares, a hinting cavalcade of w-t-f right off the bat? She couldn't create this doomsday more perfectly.

"That's kinda bullshit," Christina croaks, a fist to the center of her forehead. "If he's full of sexual tension from not fucking my girlfriend he should be fucking you."

"Well, he was in New York. I was in London," Ryan says with a shrug. "But, um... God, I'm sorry," he says, stopping in his tracks and dropping to the carpet, trying to breathe calmly. "I'm sorry to ring up and put all this shit on you. That's not really why I called." Was it? He's pretty sure it wasn't. "I was really calling to make sure you're doing okay."

 _Well, I was doing better before this phone call!_ \- is what she thinks.

What she says is, "I'm doing okay. But clearly you're not - because you sort of blurted all that out and you sound like you were chased by a bear in order to get to the phone. So... you know. You can keep talking about that... part of things."

Ryan makes an unintelligible groaning noise. "We're fine," he says. "He came home and we talked about it, and we're fine. It was just a bit of a surprise. Sorry." He rubs his finger over the carpet, making a groove. "How's the turkey baster plan coming?"

"Your diverting needs work honey - if you open with that incident, you're less fine and more bothered," Christina says sternly. "Duh, but with love okay?"

"Sorry," Ryan mumbles again, and sighs. "How do you deal with... that part of things? When Natalie goes elsewhere? I mean, I know it's pretty much inevitable, but Sam and I are still so new to each other, you know? I've never dealt with this before. With him."

Christina purses her lips. There are a number of ways she can go with this and surprisingly, she goes with honesty.

"I hate it okay? That's how I deal with it. Much like this whole...thing we're doing with her and Sam, I swallow it because I love her and I want what's best for her, even the stuff I can't give her. But..." She sighs. "I hate it."

All right, so Ryan officially feels like the King of the Assholes. "What were you doing before I rang?" he asks curiously. Maybe Christina can hypnotize herself into going back to that happy place, and forget he ever called.

"Ovulating and nesting," Christina says dryly. "Stop trying to change the subject or I'll talk about my uterine lining."

"Gah, no. I'll be good," Ryan promises, shuddering. "I just feel like I just ruined your whole day, and I swear that wasn't my intent."

"Eh, around me it's wait five minutes and I'll have a mood swing. You just swung me before the dryer lint trap did. So just taaaaaaalk. You called me, remember?"

"Yeah." Ryan smiles, picturing her screaming at her appliances. "Other than that, everything's normal. Sam is working like a dog on the sequel to Clash of the Titans. And I've been kind of exploring London on foot, learning random history. Like, did you know Buckingham Palace was built on the site of a brothel?"

"Wow - it sorta makes me like the queen more now." Christina plays along this time. "Just make sure you don't spend too much time alone. Thinking. It might get ugly."

"Yeah, it has been," Ryan sighs, then confesses, "I don't really like it here. I mean, some things I like. But some things I hate. And I feel like an idiot for not loving it here, but I'm just used to bigger spaces, you know? Even living in Los Angeles, I spent a lot of time on the beach. London feels really crowded to me."

"Get on a train or a plane - Europe's a big place. Take some time for yourself," Christina says sternly. But nicely. Because she recognizes the sound in his voice and she'd like to help him divert it into something less... crazy cakes. She's taking that train and it's really better to go to Morocco for the weekend than nutters for much longer.

"Nah, I'd miss Sam too much if I left him here. But his shoot's moving to the Canary Islands in a couple of weeks, and that should be amazing. I'm really looking forward to it." Beginning to settle down after today's brief run-in with insanity, Ryan lies back on the carpet, staring up at the ceiling. "But you're a city girl, aren't you?"

"God yes. Anything without sidewalks is the middle of nowhere." Christina mmmmms through the line. "And you know - twenty four hours apart just makes reunion sex more awesome."

"Yeah? It's true, I gave Sam the blowjob of his life when he got home the other night, although that's mostly because I was really upset," Ryan muses. He rolls his eyes. "I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"No, it makes sense to me but that doesn't mean it SHOULD make sense." She pauses. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah it does, unfortunately." Ryan chuckles. "I think we understand each other pretty well."

"Exactly. Which is terrifying. Which also means I can yell at you with complete confidence."

"Absolutely," he agrees, then frowns. "Wait... does that mean you want to yell at me right now?" With complete confidence.

"I don't know - are you going to take care of yourself and not let things fester so much they hurt you? Because that shit is not going to roll with me handsome." _Kitten with a metaphorical whip_.

"Yeah, I'll try," Ryan sighs. "It's a lot easier said than done." He chews on his bottom lip. "Is there such a thing as _too_ codependent, you think? I mean, it's probably a bad sign that I'm even asking that question." Maybe he really should take a few days and go see some of Europe by himself. Maybe it would be better for both of them.

"I think the very definition of co-dependent is too much," Christina points out gently. "And you know - I'm slumping around the house cleaning the bathroom and buying shit off the Home Shopping Network because my girlfriend is not around. I understand the pining honey, I really do. The trick is to occasionally pretending you're not living and breathing for them."

"I should clean the bathroom," Ryan mutters, momentarily distracted. Then he shakes his head. "I went through this once before, with someone else. A long time ago. But it's... _more_ , with Sam. It still freaks me out if I think about it too much."

Christina nods, even though Ryan can't see her. "It's scary. But the thing is - you have to have your own little space. I mean, this sounds stupid but this house is my thing. Everything I do for the house is for me - so don't tell Natalie okay? She thinks it's for her, for us but it's for me. You need to have something that's yours, that you can go to when it becomes too much."

"A man cave," he says softly, thinking about what she's saying. "The Ryan Cave. Hmm. I kind of like the sound of that. I mean, usually I go to my piano, and lose myself that way. But we can't travel with it, obviously. I have my keyboard, but it's not nearly the same. It's not cathartic, it's just work."

"You need that Ryan-only space," Christina says. "If you lose yourself, you lose what makes you two special, right?"

And she's mostly talking about Ryan and Sam. Sorta.

"I guess so." He frowns thoughtfully, uncomfortable with the idea. It's true, his life has changed hugely since he and Sam got together. Maybe he's let it change a little too much. "Quick change of subject, do you like to dance?"

"I do a mean samba and can-can but I can't tap to save my life. Why?"

"Because I'd love to take you clubbing, if you're up for it. I love to dance," Ryan tells her. "I wondered if maybe you'd enjoy it."

"I've never really met a club I haven't loved... so long as I'm not visibly knocked up, sounds like a blast," she says, considering the possibility and enjoying the idea. Because she's developing  
hermit-itis.

"Cool. I haven't been in a while, and I miss it." He brushes his hair off his forehead. It's starting to get in his eyes -- probably time for a cut. "What else can I do to make your life better?"

"I like the dancing idea - mostly cause that means you'll come visit me," Christina says, afraid she's a little too eager. "So you know, phone calls... your face in my space! All good."

"Awesome. We're going to be in New York, actually," Ryan says, getting up to go check his calendar in the kitchen. "In September. Sam's got a film that's shooting in the city. So, yeah. All up in your space." He grins.

"Woo! Seriously - you need to stalk my ass. I'll give you a key... to the back door. It'll be great."

"Awesome. And I'll cook you dinner," Ryan promises. "Maybe you'll turn out to be more of an adventurous eater than Sam is," he says, trying to muffle a snicker.

"Is that a sex joke? Because I will make you a kick-ass lasagna but there will be no oral," she says, mock-stern.

"I'm... pretty rusty in that area," Ryan says, shivering slightly as he tries to think of just how long ago it was that he last went down on a woman. "I leave it to the experts. But actually what I meant was that Sam would gladly eat steak and potatoes at every meal. Maybe you'll let me serve you something different."

"I'm devastatingly easy in most things. Including food," she says sweetly. "Tell you what - you can plan the meal, the dancing. Whatever you want, my job will be to say - yes Ryan! Lead on!"

She'd like to do whatever little thing she can to help him feel more in control - of anything, really.

He laughs. God, Christina is so fucking adorable. "Sounds awesome. I'll ring you soon, then? Or you call me, if you have... you know, news. Good news." He grins.

"You're on the top five ëdouble line on the stickí phone tree - promise," Christina swears. "And you'll text me pictures of your 'me' space as soon as you find it," she wheedles.

"Ahhh, yes. Yes," Ryan agrees with a sigh. "I have an assignment, and I will get on that." Hell, it's probably the only way to stick with the plan -- if Christina makes him promise.

"That's the sort of resigned enthusiasm I enjoy hearing," she says sweetly, then blows a kiss. "I'll talk to you soon okay?

"Yes," Ryan chuckles, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "And Christina? Thank you," he says in a softer voice.

"Anytime. And I'll be collecting my payment when I'm a demanding lonely pregnant lady." She blows another kiss. "Take care of yourself or else."  



End file.
